If We Knew
by RomanticFictionFreak
Summary: The School ruined the Flock's lives. So when Max uses the time machine they built to go back in time and make it so that the flock was never taken from their parents, their lives should be better right? FAXNESS! R&R!
1. Prologue

[Prologue]

It was all there fault. All of it. We would have never been in this situation if they never interfered and screwed up our lives! Then again, we wouldn't be running for our lives if it hadn't been for me interfering also…

But even that was the School's fault.

They ruined our lives from the very beginning. We would have had families, all of us, Fang, Iggy, Nugde, Angel and Gazzy, and even me. I would have Dr. Martinez. And Ella. And a home in Arizona.

All of it ruined. But I could have fixed it, and I would have…

If we knew.


	2. Ch1: We've Noticed the Changes

Nudge was scanning through her fashion magazines, Angel was talking with Total, Gazzy and Iggy were (mysteriously) working on some blue prints on the kitchen table, and Fang was playing with my fingers on the couch we were lazily sitting on.

So, basically a normal afternoon.

Nudge flipped through some pages and blew out of her mouth, making her bangs fly up. "Max, I'm bored."

I turned to look at her behind me. "You're done with your magazines?"

"Pft, yeah," she scoffed. "This is, like, last month's issue. And I've already read it, like, fifty million times. I think I'm behind on the latest styles. Do you think we could go to the store? Okay, first we need money. I need some. OMG, maybe I'll be, like, a fashion designer! And design all these clothes! That'd be totally cool! I'd like, give all of you totally cool new—"

"Why don't you come watch T.V.?" I suggested to stop that mouth of her from going on.

She shrugged and plopped on the couch beside Fang and me and clicked the remote.

"Find something good," I told her.

Suddenly, Fang straightened up instantly. He stared at me with dark, knowing eyes. "Angel's hungry."

I guess Angel's mind reading skills can come in handy when it comes to communicating.

"Okay," I smiled then got up to the kitchen.

Of course, being me, I was _not_ going to cook. Which is why I say thank you to microwavable pizza.

As I waited for it to warm up, watching it turn and turn, I felt familiar hands on my waist and grinned. Turning, I was about to kiss Fang when I realized he wasn't touching me as a sign of affection, but to grab my attention.

Silent eyes motioned with the cock of his head to the living room, where Nudge was watching T.V. I guess she finally found a channel, and after a quick glance, I realized what it was. It was some teenage-family-drama show; and in this scene the girl was hanging out with her friends at school, nervous about her presentation in English next period.

I looked at Nudge, who stared back enviously, yearningly, at the imaginary girls on the screen. The people with normal lives, who endured normal problems, and who went to a normal school without mad scientist.

We all knew how much Nudge wanted that—school, a family, a life.

It hurt to see a flock member so depressed, but what was I supposed to do?

I gave Fang a knowing look, who returned it, pressing his lips together sympathetically.

"I don't _know_ where it's supposed to be!" Iggy yelled out of nowhere, shooting up from his chair.

Gazzy was staring up at him in slight surprise at his outrage.

Iggy was furious, his anger heating his words, sharpening their meaning, "I don't know where it is, because I can't _see_ it! You think I'd ask you for your goddamn help if I wasn't freakin' _blind_?"

"Sorry, Ig," Gazzy stuttered, "I—I just thought—"

"Yeah, well you thought wrong!" Iggy shouted back. "Stop apologizing like it's my fault! I didn't choose to loose my eyesight!" After he got out what he wanted to say, Iggy stormed toward his room, letting the door slam behind him.

I looked back at the flock, my flock: Nudge was just staring, Angel didn't seem too surprised, in fact she seemed quite calm, innocently stroking Total's fur, who was doing his best to look indifferent. Fang was…well Fang: dark, silent, observant. Gazzy stared after Iggy, appalled his best friend would ever talk like that to him.

I walked over to Gazzy, and touched his shoulder. "Gazzy?" I asked him hesitantly.

"What's up with him?" Gazzy asked, a honest question.

"It's just Iggy, Gazzy. He'll be fine. Just give him some time to cool off," I told him.

Gazzy took a deep breath. "Okay."

I was curious. "What was he yelling about anyway?"

"We were working on blue prints for a paint bomb—totally harmless, swear—and I told him to check the wiring connected to the—"

"Save me the technical stuff, Gazzy," I interrupted.

"Well, anyway, he asked me where the wiring layout was, and I told him 'there,'" he shrugged and continued, "I was busy working on the other half, and I guess he got mad 'cause I wouldn't tell him exactly…"

I hugged him, "It's okay, Gazzy."

The microwave went off. Dinner time.

Okay, little helpful backround info, i liked the Fang book, but i thought it wouldn't help with my story, so this takes place after Max. Just some pointers! hope you like the story so far! sorry for not updating, yah knw the usual: school, life, sleep! also, this is my first story, and i had a hard ass time with knowing how to publish and unpdate chapters sooo, hope you understand. i had to get a friends help! sooooo, yeah, i hope to update soon! but only if i get reviews. sorry, but they really inspire me to continue. as a writer, i hope you understand! thanks!


	3. Ch2: AirplanesAren'tShootingStars

**I know not the best chapter title, but idk, it fit. Plus, I love that song! I love paramore! Oh and thanks ****bandgeek4life4281 for the advice on author's notes! R&R!**

* * *

Cpater 2: Airplanes Aren't Shooting Stars

Soon, the sun was going away.

I kept an eye on Iggy, trying to decide whether to comfort him or to give him his well-deserved space.

I went with decision two.

It was when every one was in their rooms that I realized Fang was gone.

For a split second, I thought he went still-invisible but, I didn't think he would play me like that. Least, not for this long.

I went around to Angel and Nudge's room and swung the door open. They were laying down playing cards and turned their heads in my direction.

"Where's Fang?" I asked them, though my attention was more towards Angel. There was a specific reason why I chose to ask them than anyone else.

Nudge shrugged but, like me, looked at Angel, who replied, "Up on the roof."

I nodded, gave a quick thanks and went up there.

On the ledge, I could see a dark silhouette, crouching near the other edge of the roof, looking at the endless, hidden horizon ahead of him. He didn't move, or fidget, or acknowledge my presence, but I knew he knew I was there. He was waiting for me to break the still silence.

"I thought you didn't like being alone," I spoke up, my voice a clashing sound to the still night air.

From this angle, I could see his face lift up. Then he turned his torso to look at me, giving me a rare Fang smile, the one that never failed to give me that same feeling of diving at a high altitude. "Alone with you is a different story." He paused and we remained our positions: crouching or standing casually. "How's Iggy?"

"Better," I said relieved at the subject change, "He hasn't talked yet, but he's not isolated or fuming."

"Or yelling."

"Yeah," I agreed, a faint smile on my lips, "or yelling."

He smiled larger. Then laid his hand down, palm up, and met my eyes. I grinned, and came beside him. I sat against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around me. We said nothing, because honestly, there was nothing _to_ say. A long moment of comfortable silence gently fell on us for a while.

A loud, heavy sound came above us. And something slowly soared across the young night sky.

We looked up in unison and watched it fly.

"Airplanes." Fang noted.

"Yeah," I agreed, following it with my eyes. Once it was long far away, only a point in the distance, I had to ask. I didn't exactly plan on this question, but with all the thought jumbled in my mind, this was the only order of words my oh-so-big brain could put together. "Do you ever think about it?"

Fang turned his head and tried to look at me, but in our position, I kept staring at the imaginary plane. "About what?" he asked me.

I sighed. "What our lives would be like? If it wasn't for this?" I motioned to our wings with my eyes.

My wings were beautiful, all brown, white and speckled, but as natural as they were to _me_, they were the main reason people thought we were special, or freaks.

Fang sighed; warm air blew down on my hair.

"I mean, look at our flock, Fang," I tried desperately wanting him to say something, anything to make it better. "Nudge and Iggy, I hate seeing them like this—sad, regretful…"

Fang sighed again, but he smiled. But even with his smile, the desperation didn't leave me. Looking ahead of us, Fang spoke while shaking his head, though it sounded more like he was talking to himself than me, "Always the do-gooder, Max."

"This is our flock we're talking about, Fang!"

"I know," he looked at me now, with a soft look, but his voice was calm and casual, "And there's nothing we can do about it. I'll admit, we can think about what other, different reality we could have been in, even I think about it sometimes, but thinking won't solve our problems. Even if we didn't want it to happen, it did. A long time ago. And just wishing won't undo what's happened to us."

Another rare, long Fang speech. Even now, he still didn't talk much. I realized, with pleasant discovery, that his actions meant more. Much, _much_ more. But I took his words in deeply. Hearing what he meant, even though it utterly sucked, it was the unavoidable, undeniable, completely crap-ful truth.

He paused, still staring at my plain brown eyes, before he continued, as if he wanted to drive me to think as deeply as he was right now. "Do you think about it?"

I expected this. I looked away, to the stars outlining the Colorado mountains, and answered, "Sometimes," and gave a slight shrug. At that, I actually did start to think more about it. There was a moment of silence. Fang remained completely patient. "I wouldn't have to worry about saving the world, or run for my life on a daily basis. There wouldn't be evil scientist on my mind and…" my voice became softer, "I would've met Dr. Martinez a lot sooner. Would've known her my whole life," I mused, suddenly looking down as I imagined what my life would have been like.

Fang nodded, understanding me like always.

I came back to the present, then looked at Fang, who was also looking down, but his gaze was somewhere far away. Hesitantly, but mostly curiously, I asked him, "What do you think about?"

He shrugged. And I studied him, all of him, his face, his torso, even the glorious impossibility that was his wings overlapping mine.

My eyes lingered on Fang's wings, secretly imagining them in flight, the beautiful strength as they beat up and down. In the sunlight, they glistened a shiny black color, like onyx stones, or Fang's eyes when he looked at me…

Like he was looking at me right now.

He took his far hand and cupped my face, before speaking softly. "I like being here, now, being safe. Being with you, right now, alone. I like it. So long as I have you, there's nothing to think about." He practically whispered it, but my hearing had the background sound of my blood erratically pumping, which made it hard to hear his every word.

We stared at each other, both knowing and feeling the effect of his words, the flow of electricity between us. He began to lean in and kissed me. The kiss was light, not as hungry and rough as it usually was, but just as passionate and wonderful. I don't think I'll ever get used to the rush of adrenaline that jolted my nervous system every time Fang's mouth touched mine. Like feeling alive after being dead for so long. The resurrection felt so good. I couldn't live without this, if I could do it forever…but of course I couldn't. Even dreams fade away to reality.

There was a faint buzz in my ear, like a crowd of talking people. I figured it was the effect of losing touch with the world as Fang tilted his head to kiss me more deeply, still slowly.

But then I realized, when I focused on the noise, it was part of reality after all.

I broke away suddenly, Fang taken aback slightly. You'd think he'd stop being surprised after the first thousand times I broke away unexpectedly when he first kissed me.

He opened his mouth to say something, when I stopped him and tried to face the source of the noise. "Shh. Do you hear that?"

He suddenly became alert. "What?"

"Shh. That. Do you hear it?" I started moving around and crouched, ready to leap off the roof if I had to. I closed my eyes and the noise enhanced. Flashing them open, raptor vision allowed me to see along the road that led to our house, where three black SUV's parked along the road. Men were talking and shuffling around pulling their black mysterious equipment from the cars. The men had on white coats.

Fang saw them too. "What are they doing?"

"I don't know," I said, watching them with still eyes, "but I don't like it."

I looked at Fang, giving him a meaningful look, clearly saying "Get the Flock and let's fly the heck out of here"

He gave a stiff nod, instantly focused. And again I renewed the joy of how well he could read me.

As he started toward the front door below us, I stood up and watched the white coats. My eyes bulged out as I saw them struggling to lift and load a missile launcher.

"Fang—"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

I looked at him with a frightened look.

"Right, get the flock. Fast."

He disappeared, blending with the night and a few shuffles below. I kept my watch on the attackers. Counting down the seconds as I saw them finish preparing, then they started to aim. Fear struck through me, then…

"Max!" Fang's voice came from the air where the rest of the flock hovered.

I jumped off the roof after a running start and fell. As soon as I felt I was at a leveled altitude, I snapped my wings out, feeling the instant rush under my wings. The air lifted me up, the wind filtered through my feathers.

I could distantly hear the high whistling noise of the missile, then the house exploded. Its eruption sent an invisible force that arched my back and pushed me out.

Tumbling to the ground, I heard the roof planks fall around me, some pieces of wood and glass sliced or bruised my skin, until I finally rolled still.

I coughed and wheezed, trying to get up so I could find the flock, but my chest was squeezed shut, and I couldn't see through all the smoke.

"Max!" someone called.

Their voice became closer until they were over me, casting a shadow against the full moon.

"Max! Are you hurt? Can you fly?"

"Fang, I see them coming, we have to go!" a high, innocent voice. Angel.

Through squinted eyes, I could see blurry outlines of the Flock. Fang was kneeling over me, everyone else were in the air.

Fang put my arm around his shoulder, unfortunately not romantically, but to hoist me up.

I found the strength to stand on my own and stood up. He noticed and backed away.

"Can you fly?" he asked.

"Um, my wing—" I stretched it out and winced as I felt its sore protest. I must have fallen on it after the explosion hit. I ignored it, anyway. Yup, that's me, Maximum Ride. "Yeah. Let's go!"

All of a sudden, Nudge fell to the ground with a thud. Iggy followed.

"Nudge!" Gazzy yelled before hitting the ground limp like her.

"Max! They've—" Angel started until, she, too, dropped like a bullet.

Fang and I shared a quick look of panic, when all of a sudden, Fang's knees gave out and his eyelids fluttered shut. His body tilted and I saw a flash of silver. On the back of his shoulder, a small silver tranquilizer dart stuck out. The fluid was drained from the barrel. And I knew there wasn't much time before—

A sharp poke followed by a ripple of pain spread through my right arm. Instantly I felt the effect, the wave of exhaustion and weakness. My body felt limp and helpless, like a ragged doll.

The panic and fear I had felt before dimmed like my conscious mind and it was actually becoming somewhat relaxing. Except, I had to admit, that thing hurt like a mother—


End file.
